Common Yellowthroat

A broad black mask lends a touch of highwayman’s mystique to the male Common Yellowthroat. Look for these furtive, yellow-and-olive warblers skulking through tangled vegetation, often at the edges of marshes and wetlands. Females lack the mask and are much browner, though they usually show a hint of warm yellow at the throat. Yellowthroats are vocal birds, and both their witchety-witchety-witchety songs and distinctive call notes help reveal the presence of this, one of our most numerous warblers.

Typical Voice

Size & Shape

Common Yellowthroats are small songbirds with chunky, rounded heads and medium-length, slightly rounded tails.

Color Pattern

Adult males are bright yellow below, with a sharp black face mask and olive upperparts. A thin whitish line sets off the black mask from the head and neck. Immature males show traces of the full mask of adult males. Females are a plain olive brown, usually with yellow brightening the throat and under the tail. They lack the black mask.

Behavior

Common Yellowthroats spend much of their time skulking low to the ground in dense thickets and fields, searching for small insects and spiders. Males sing a very distinctive, rolling wichety-wichety-wichety song, and both sexes give a full-sounding chuck note that is easy to learn. During migration, this is often the most common warbler found in fields and edges. It sometimes joins other warbler species in mixed foraging flocks.

Habitat

Yellowthroats live in open areas with thick, low vegetation, ranging from marsh to grassland to open pine forest. During migration, they use an even broader suite of habitats including backyards and forest.

Nonbreeding male

Similar Species

Adult male Common Yellowthroats are relatively straightforward to identify with their black mask and yellow underparts. Male Hooded Warblers show the reverse facial pattern—a golden face and black hood, and they live in more forested habitats. Yellow-breasted Chats are larger and lankier than Common Yellowthroats; they are overall dark olive above with a poorly defined gray-and-black mask, and have thick bills and white “spectacles.” Female and immature Common Yellowthroats can be more confusing. Female Mourning Warblers have fully yellow underparts, whereas yellowthroats tend to be brown on the belly. Mourning Warblers tend to be more secretive than Common Yellowthroats. Female and immature Yellow Warblers are more yellow and less brown overall; also look for flashes of yellow in the tail, absent in Common Yellowthroats. Other fall warblers can have an overall unmarked yellow look, particularly Hooded Warbler and Wilson’s Warbler, but don’t show the brown tones or hint of yellow in the throat of a Common Yellowthroat. Orange-crowned Warblers and Nashville Warblers are also less brown and have a different shape, with slender bodies, slim, finely tipped bills, and dark legs.

Backyard Tips

Your yard could attract Common Yellowthroats if it is fairly large (yellowthroat territories are sometimes as small as 0.5 acre) and features dense or tangled, low-growing grasses and other vegetation.

Find This Bird

Common Yellowthroats are easy to find during spring and summer in much of North America. Just visit open habitats such as marshes, wetland edges, and brushy fields. Listen for the male’s wichety-wichety-wichety song, which they sing frequently during summer, and is easy to recognize. Even their call notes are distinctive, so listen for their husky, low chuck coming from the undergrowth. When you hear one calling, look low in bushes and trees for a quick, small bird, olive above and yellow below. If you don’t spot one after a while, try making a “pishing” sound; yellowthroats are inquisitive birds and often pop into the open to see who’s making the sound.